1. Technical Field
The application relates to a beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material, and a container filling plant container information adding station, such as, a labeling station having a gripper arrangement, configured to add information to containers, such as, bottles and cans.
2. Background Information
A beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material can possibly comprise a beverage filling machine with a plurality of beverage filling positions, each beverage filling position having a beverage filling device for filling bottles with liquid beverage filling material. The filling devices may have an apparatus being configured to introduce a predetermined volume of liquid beverage filling material into the interior of bottles to a substantially predetermined level of liquid beverage filling material, and the apparatus configured to introduce a predetermined flow of liquid beverage filling material comprising apparatus being configured to terminate the filling of beverage bottles upon liquid beverage filling material reaching said substantially predetermined level in bottles. There may also be provided a conveyer arrangement being configured and disposed to move bottles, for example, from an inspecting machine to the filling machine. Upon filling, a closing station closes filled bottles. There may further be provided a conveyer arrangement configured to transfer filled bottles from the filling machine to the closing station. Next, filled bottles are usually labeled in a labeling station after closing.
Thus, in the packaging of wares of diverse sorts, such as, for example, beverages or items of food, it has been found highly advantageous to configure the containers in which such wares are offered as advantageously and appealingly as possible. Aside from configuration of the body of containers, the container labeling, that is ever increasing in display, also plays an increasingly important role.
Accordingly, due to being highly conducive to increase sales, the advantageous outer configuration of containers and receptacles of all types is increasingly receiving attention.
One opportunity to configure containers and receptacles, such as, for example, bottles, in a particularly appealing manner, comprises labeling the containers with so-called sleeve labels.
Two distinct methods are available in sleeve labeling. In a first method, sleeve labels are used that have an inner diameter that is larger by a predetermined amount than the outer diameter of the containers that are to be labeled; this means that the sleeve labels must be shrunk upon being placed onto a container using an input of energy.
In a second method, sleeve labels are used that have an inner diameter that is smaller by a predetermined amount than the containers that are to be labeled. In this method, the sleeve labels are pulled with an elevated energy effort about the container whereupon they adhere due to the prior expansion leading to a corresponding contraction and due to the attendant frictional forces. Shrinking of the sleeve labels is not required in this method.
These sleeve labels are generally configured as a portion of an endless plastic tube from which they are cut with the respectively required length.
Upon severing, an individual sleeve label is received by a gripper and is positioned about the container that is to be labeled.
In the event that the plastic tube is in a correct position, there arises, as a function of the method that is being used, a pre-shrinking, or, however, the gripper releases its engagement with the sleeve label and moves into a non-engaging position.
The functioning that is free of errors and precise of the above-mentioned gripper is of particular importance for the disruption-free execution of the entire labeling process. It is to be noted that the operating size or expansion of the gripper and the position of the gripper expansion are to be moved with and within very small tolerances because the plastic tubes that are used, that have a wall thickness of only 0.05 millimeters, need to be maintained during the labeling process in a clamped or gripped manner that is neither too tightly nor too loosely.
In the event that the sleeve label is gripped too loosely, a premature release of the label from the gripper may result and this may lead to an imprecise positioning of the label. An overly tight gripping may lead to damage of the label or, respectively, of the image that is carried by the label. Both situations are undesirable in practical use and, accordingly, need to be prevented.
Such grippers are so-called format-parts, or formatted parts, meaning that they need to be exchanged upon each change of a container type that is to be labeled or, respectively, upon a change of the diameter of the container that is to be labeled.
Due to the unavoidable deviations in tolerances, hitherto it has been very laborious and expensive to correctly adjust the grippers either prior to utilization or during utilization. This is particularly of detriment due to the fact that known grippers do not entail the option to adjust the position of the expansion or operating size of the gripper without a change of other parameters, such as, for example, the magnitude of the operating size or spread or expansion of the gripper.
The expenses that are caused by such disadvantages are made most obvious when considering the fact that at one customary sleeve labeling station up to 30 positions, each having a gripper, are present and in standard sleeve labeling stations between 3 to 5 sets of format-parts are utilized.